Saturday, December 1, 2012

Life Alignment And Goal Setting

Everyone has a purpose but sometimes one of the most challenging things is finding it.

One of the main reasons most people lose sight of their purpose, is due to placing limitations on themselves including forming and creating limiting beliefs and therefore situations around themselves that take them off track.

Most of the time, these limitations are created as a result of looking around outside of yourselves into your current situation or environment and making the assumption from this current information that something cannot be done, not realising that the current situation or environment has been constructed by you from another space and time - like 6 months ago for example.

The only place you can change your direction from is now. The 'Power of Now' enables you to make a decision and change tack, in order for your sailboat to charter different waters so you can live your purpose.

What is your purpose anyway?

Your purpose is the reason for living here on earth at this time. It is your passion, something you must undertake, share and give out beyond yourself that will connect you to yourself and others in order to provide your soul and life with meaning and therefore give meaning to your life and the lives of others.

By living your purpose you also allow others to be inspired from your own meaning so they can also live their purpose. It is indeed an on flow of meaningful living. You are not here because something dumped you here. It is no accident. Everyone has something important to give and do.

Discovering your purpose and who and what you are meant to be being and doing, can simply be discovered by being quiet. Feel into what it is that you gain bliss, pleasure and happiness from. For some it could be driving their own trucks; a music teacher and sharing their passion with others by performing in concerts; a builder and building homes for people; it could be writing and expressing, volunteering, gardening, operating machinery or an accountant.

Whatever it is for you, get quiet with yourself and a piece of paper and reflect on what has made you happy in the past. Look at your strengths, what you are good at. This may take an hour or it could take a couple of weeks.

But the key in your purpose is not selfish. There is always an element of self within all we do as we need to be fulfilled to be happy and that is how it is meant to be. Whatever your purpose is though, it will always have something in it for others, by default. However, only focus on what you love and the rest will come about organically.

Take a singer for example. They love to sing because it allows them to move into another dimension, a wonderful place where they get to connect with themselves (as we all do when we live our purpose- it's default). By being fulfilled in this activity, they allow others to go to their own places whenever they hear the voice of this singer who can touch them just by their sound.

So, the singer gets to express themselves and connect with a deeper part of themselves, and in doing so and sharing their desire to do this (purpose), others benefit too. Others will always benefit from you living your life doing what you're blissful about.

It could be parenting; giving yourself to another human being and being in service to them and being the best you can be for them, so it enables them to be the best they can be and so on. Builders get to do what they love and at the same time, give others a home to live in.

Accountants get to follow their passion for mathematics and problem solving so that the company they work for can produce their products or services that can help others, or they can have their own business helping others manage their assets for growth.

When you are living your purpose, it is not work, its play

We are told to work hard. Why? Why do that when you can live in fun?

Remember this ... you know when you are on the right track aligned with your purpose, when the work is not hard. On the other hand, it is enjoyable and time goes fast! There will be challenges and obstacles to overcome at times, but this does not make it hard.

That is part of your journey and it is part of life. It allows you to make decisions that can keep you on track or take you off track. They are check points for progress and alignment. Don't fear them, face them and keep on with your goals.

What is a goal and what is the best way to achieve them?

A goal essentially is a marker for stages of accomplishment. You choose a desired end result and work back from there to where you are now, and along the way there are steps that need to be taken in a particular order for your desired result to be achieved.

Make sure they are "Right For You" goals.

"Personal alignment means to be in agreement with and to work toward some goal. When people are uncertain of their direction or goals, they tend to act in a misaligned fashion. The wander around, one step forward, one step backward and generally get in their own way. In order to accomplish anything, they need continuous external direction: 'Here, do this. Go this way.' Personal misalignment comes from having uncertain or conflicting goals. Most people have learned that it's important to set goals, but few recognise that there are right and wrong goals, as well as proper and improper ways to set goals" - Harry Palmer (From Resurfacing Workbook).

Are your personal and professional goals in alignment with your life purpose? What goals make your life worth living?

For a valuable exercise go to the AvatarEPC website and click on MINI COURSES. Go to the "Life Alignment" course and you will find powerful download with exercises you can take to determine a Right For You goal and a life plan you can begin to follow deliberately.

I strongly suggest you do the entire mini course, but you can jump to the Goal Section, scroll to Exercise #5.

Once you have clarity on what this is for you, make sure you follow it through with deliberate actions, and it will mean making decisions and making some aligned changes.

After all, life is too short, or too long, to live on someone else's path.

Briony Pettigrew is a self starter who has a decent bucket list and a passion for remaining empowered in her own financial and personal life. She is a television presenter, business builder, karate kicking single parent who's purpose is to follow her bliss and encouraging others to be the best in themselves. Briony is also embarking on a new career in Life Coaching in 2013.